Candidate For US Senate: Marisa DeFranco

Salem immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco has filed to run for US Senator in 2012, seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Scott Brown.

"I am running -- not thinking about it, not exploring, I'm running," DeFranco says. "This has been in the works for months."

Admittedly little-known, DeFranco intends to build a grassroots campaign, raising money in small-dollar contributions through her networks of attorneys and Democratic activists. She is holding her kickoff fundraising event in Boston on April 14th.

Details of her policy positions will be available on her web site, which will be launched in two weeks, DeFranco says. The cornerstone issues will be "jobs, security, and justice," based in part on her work with businesses, families, and asylum seekers.

"The American dream is pretty much not available to the great majority of people," she says. "I deal in the American dream. I am the granddaughter of immigrants, fresh off the boat from Italy."

Asked why Democrats should view her as the best candidate to take on Brown, DeFranco says: "I will work harder.... I am tougher, more tenacious, and more tireless."